Anatomy of Our First Fish Quarantine Session

[dougchambers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7027308#post7027308 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ufchristyb
Hey Doug,

Glad to hear things are going well. How did you seal off your tank to do the flooring? Our wood floor was water damaged in the hurricane, and I've given up on the idea of repairing it because of the tank. At the same time, I don't really want to do a whole floor replacement, although tile would probably be a better idea given the tank and all.

The reef room has it's own door from the garage and a window to the outside. We have a separate fan in the room also that has been running non-stop since Sunday. From the inside, I pulled the trim piece off the wall because I had been planning to redo it and taped off what little bit of gap we have between the walls and tank. We already had the round weather stripping wedged between the wall and tank so the tape was more of an insurance policy.

One of the guys from the flooring company was out today to look at the damage they caused to the cabinets and was captivated by the tank. My wife said he spent about 3 minutes looking at the cabinet doors they will be replacing and 20 minutes looking at the tank. He was VERY surprised we didn't have any problems and is convinced he needs an in-wall tank instead of the 120g free standing he has been planning.

Our fish are well. The purple tang either still has some ich cysts, or just some skin damage from the ich, and I think that the yellow's HLLE is actually getting a little better, and her color is way improved. I can't wait to put her in the reef tank - she will be looking fabulous in no time.

By the way, regarding your tang and his eating habits, I've noticed with ours that the more greens they eat, the deeper their color. Our achilles has gotten at least two shades darker since we've put him in the main tank and I think its because of all the algae he's eating.

If the scum on the inside of your tank gets thick enough, you will likely start to see little fishy lip marks in it. When ours gets really bad in the QT, we use one of those magnet cleaners.

Keep us posted

--Christy

The fish (no names yet ) looks to be doing well. In the mornings and evenings when people aren't around, he is nice and dark with outstanding coloring in the highlights. It's just when I'm working around the tank that he looks like a Naso. I've been putting a full strip of Nori in the tank every morning, but I'm not sure how much he actually eats. When it comes to frozen, he is very particular and snubs formula 2, flake, and about anything other than brine. Some times he will eat mysis, but prefers the brine.

Day 11:
The water change last night went well and after looking at the mess in the tank tonight, I siphoned off another 3-4 gallons. I started the feeding tonight with flake and it really made him mad. He spit everything out and swam around the tank vigorously until I brought over some frozen brine. He need to get used to a more varied diet as we get closer to inclusion in the main tank.

Temp: 79.8Ã"šÃ‚°F
Sg: 1.009
pH: 8.26
NH3: Negligible
NO2: Negligible
NO3: Negligible

No signs of Ich or anything else for now...

-Doug

 

[agarza]

Hi, a quick question, are you planning on breaking down the QT after treatment or are you going to keep it running without fish?, I've read different opinions on the web and was wondering what was your position on the subject. Main objection on running it without fish is, besides maintenance, is that it could preserve the viruses or whatever we are trying to eliminate.

Thanks, and keep the good work, if you can, please post some pictures.

 

[dougchambers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7030169#post7030169 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by agarza
Hi, a quick question, are you planning on breaking down the QT after treatment or are you going to keep it running without fish?, I've read different opinions on the web and was wondering what was your position on the subject. Main objection on running it without fish is, besides maintenance, is that it could preserve the viruses or whatever we are trying to eliminate.

Thanks, and keep the good work, if you can, please post some pictures.

Alfonso,

Our current plan is to break-down the system after the sucessful QT session. The biowheel will be transferred to the refugium to maintain its bioloading for the next session(s).

Like many, I'm tempted to upgrade the lighting over it and try to utilize the system as a grow-out, but I could do the same thing in our refugium/sump more effectively with better water control and less maintenance. I also don't want to get trapped into needing the Quarantine tank and have it full of corals. (I REALLY need to frag out the display tank...)

-Doug

 

[agarza]

Ok, thanks, but aren't you afraid of introducing something to your system if you place the biowheel back in your sump after QT?, I'm not sure, but wouldn't it be best to dispose that one and get a new one in your sump to be ready when needed?
Just trying to figure things out so I don't regret anything further down the road.

Thanks again

 

[jeffbrig]

I chose not to break down my QT between additions. Here's my logic.....since I successfully treated and brought the fish back to health, there was no need. If the fish are clean enough to transfer into my main tank, the QT must be clean as well. I also prefer to keep the mature biological filter intact. Even with the tank sitting fallow for a few weeks, I've found it 10X easier to maintain water quality on my second batch, even with a heavier bioload.

I do, however, make it a point to clean the tank completely, and do a huge water change, just to make sure the new inhabitants start with the highest quality water possible.

 

[agarza]

I understand what you mean Jeff, and certainly understand that a tank running fallow for more than 3 weeks will eliminate the ich parasite, but what about other diseases, such as brook, etc. I am not familiar with their live cycle, but isn't that a concern to worry about?

 

[jeffbrig]

Depends on what the outcome of the disease was....

IMO, if you had a disease like brook (I did) and successfully treated with antibiotics (which I did), it should be gone. On the other hand, if a fish dies of something while in QT, an immediate new addition to that tank would be susceptible to the same disease.

If in doubt, I think it makes good sense to drain the tank, wipe it out, and let it dry good. I have no problem doing the same with the filter, but I am willing to risk keeping the mature biowheel. Until I see a reason not to, I think the benefits of mature bio filtration outweigh any slight risk.

 

[agarza]

So in any case is a play by ear kind of thing, I can live with that.

Thanks for the prompt answers.

Cheers

 

[guitarfish]

How about some pics of your QT with the fish?

 

[dougchambers]

I've got snails, crabs, and shrimp arriving Saturday. I shoot some pictures of the reef room and QT while I'm acclimating.

-Doug

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7032590#post7032590 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffbrig
Depends on what the outcome of the disease was....

IMO, if you had a disease like brook (I did) and successfully treated with antibiotics (which I did), it should be gone. On the other hand, if a fish dies of something while in QT, an immediate new addition to that tank would be susceptible to the same disease.

Umm, just a bit of a clarification/correction

Jeff and I treated Brook successfully with formalyn baths; WE used the antibiotics to treat the secondary bacterial infection that set in (which is common with Brook since the immune system is so compromised).

I think the key thing to remember is once your fish have been in quarantine for a few weeks showing no signs of disease, or reinfection, likely anything that they had will have died off for lack of a host, so the threat to any future inhabitants is low. But like Jeff said, when in doubt, wipe it down

--Christy

 

[ufchristyb]

Sorry about that, that was me again.

New household rule - Hubby does not get to login to ReefCentral from MY LAPTOP

--Christy

 

[agarza]

Got it, thanks Christy. I think I'll go that way, I'm restarting my system in a couple of months and will be re-stocking slowly, so keeping the QT running is my best choice, and as said before I'll play by ear.

Cheers again.

 

[agarza]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7034206#post7034206 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ufchristyb
Sorry about that, that was me again.

New household rule - Hubby does not get to login to ReefCentral from MY LAPTOP

--Christy

Specially when trying to hit the 100 posts mark as I am.

 

[ufchristyb]

You said it!!

 

[dougchambers]

You'll be there before the weekend...

 

[ufchristyb]

Doug,

How's it going? Everything OK I hope.

--Christy

 

[dougchambers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7097932#post7097932 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ufchristyb
Doug,

How's it going? Everything OK I hope.

--Christy

Hi Christy,
Strangely enough, we were just talking about you guys. We've been a little delinquent in our updates. Fortunately, everything is moving along well. We were out of town for the weekend so we were just feeding the new addition and trying to remember if it had been three weeks or four. Time flies, but not fast enough!

The fish is doing very well. Names are still up for debate (Lilo or Stitch given the possible roots from Hawaii). Salinity is still at 1.010 and we continue to feed a strip of nori and a mixture of various frozen items. He is very particular about food and definitely prefers the frozen brine over about anything else.

No sighs of Ich, pop-eye, velvet, or about anything else for that matter. He has put on a fair amount of weight and looks quite healthy. The minor split and blemish in the tail fin is fully cleared up.

The quarantine tank is getting a pretty good bloom of algae on the glass. I continue to do ~5g water changes ever 2-3 days, but haven't really seen anything concerning.

The family is ready to put him in the tank NOW. There has been more than one comment that this QT method definitely takes the impulse buy satisfaction out of the equation. I told my wife the next time she buys shoes, I get to hold them in quarantine for 4-weeks. No... She wasn't amused either!

I need to get the new website uploaded when I get some time and post the pictures. We shutdown our Earthlink account and hosted a new domain so all of our old links are dead until I finish the updates.

How are the corals frags doing?

Doug and Trudy

 

[ufchristyb]

Shoe Quarantine! I love it. You must understand though, we women have our own QT for shoes. It usually involves trying them on at home in front of the full length mirror and then stomping around in the carpet for a few minutes to make sure they are suitable. A quicker process, but a hospital period nonetheless.

Glad to hear your QT is going well. Our guys are looking good other than some minor HLLE, which we assume will clear up once they get in the reef system. We need to look back at our posts and figure out how many weeks they have been at hypo. I have a feeling we are getting close to the end. We found a new local fish store that we will probably get our next acquisitions from - likely will do a school of anthias and possible give another PBT a try.

--Christy

 

[ufchristyb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7098250#post7098250 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dougchambers
How are the corals frags doing?

The coral frags are looking pale and overpriced, as usual

--Christy